The Feeding of Bees 



Bees are fed to prevent them from starving when they lack stores 

 in the winter, or in times of scarcity during the summer or fall, to stim- 

 ulate the rearing of brood in the spring, or at any other time when it is 

 desirable to furnish them with winter stores when they are lacking in 

 the fall ; also to secure the completion of unfinished sections that may 

 be left at the close of the honey harvest. 



The feeding of bees for stimulating brood-rearing in early spring 

 is now looked upon b}' many as of doubtful value. Especially is this 

 true in the Northern States, where weeks of warm weather are often 

 followed by a "freeze-up." The average bee-keeper in the average local- 

 ity will find it more satisfactory to feed liberally in the fall — enough, at 

 least, so that there shall be sufficient stores until harvest. If the hives 

 are well protected, and the loees well supplied with an abundance of 

 sealed stores, natural brood-rearing will proceed with sufficient rapidity, 

 early in the spring, without any artificial stimulus. The only time that 

 spring feeding is advisable is where there is a dearth of nectar, after 

 the early spring flow and before the coming of the main harvest. A 

 few bee-keepers have found it very profitable to feed enough at this 

 time to keep brood-rearing in progress ; then, when the harvest comes 

 on, the brood-combs are full of brood and food, and the honey must 

 go into the super instead of being stored in the empty cells of the brood- 

 nest. Not only this, but, as the result of uninterrupted brood-rearing, 

 great armies of workers are brought upon the stage of action at the 

 proper time to help in the securing of the harvest. There come to my 

 mind now two notable examples of men who have made a great success 

 of this kind of feeding. One is H. R. Boardman, of East T6wnsend, 

 Ohio, and the other was the late Mr. E. W. Alexander, of Delanson, 

 X. Y. Mr. Boardman uses a quart Mason jar with a perforated cover, 

 the jar being inverted in a hole made in a shallow box that is placed 

 in front of the entrance of the hive, the side of the box next the hive 

 being open so that the bees can enter. The two side pieces of the box 

 are made in such a way as to leave projections on their lower edges, 

 on the ends next the hive, and these projections slip into the entrance, 

 thus holding the feeder in place and making it more difficult for robbers 

 to gain an entrance to the feeder. 



